Circus Number 13
by pancakes21
Summary: If there was ever a movie with Rena (OC) as the main character, it would definitely be a slasher, but with Juuzou by her side, maybe she could at least survive to the end of this movie. She hoped sporting a few stitches would earn her a pass to the circus he was currently living in, at least. A Juuzou-style love story, set in Tokyo Ghoul: Re.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everybody! If you were wondering, I'm still working on my other Juuzou story (** ** _A Time for Healing_** **). Until another update, here's another Juuzou story I thought up to at least tide me over, with more of a 'dark romance' edge. This will most likely be a short fic, set around the Re timeline. Tell me how you like it!**

* * *

Being chased through the night by a ghoul was not how Rena was planning on spending that evening out with her friends. They were all sitting around an alley, sharing a smoke and minding their own business, when it happened.

"Do you hear that noise?" Jun had asked, getting up to go investigate.

They always say hindsight is 20/20.

Pretty soon the ghoul that was hiding there emerged from the shadows and caught onto Jun's leg, spearing right through the bone with its kagune, causing a loud crack to accompany his shrill screech, echoing throughout the maze of alley ways.

That's about the time Rena was hauling ass out of there, with the rest of their companions following close behind- poor Jun already being counted as gone.

Rena was never really close to anyone, even to her so-called friends, and she liked it that way. It meant her self preservation was strong in these types of situations, and she didn't have to deal with the guilt of leaving anyone behind. You know, whenever a man-eating beast was on your tail.

Unfortunately, it was too late for Rena by the time she realized all her friends had turned an extra right ages ago, leaving her at a dead end, between a wall and a hungry ghoul.

"Great," she mumbled to herself, leaning against the wall and sinking to the pavement. Perhaps this was a fitting end for her, amidst the dumpsters and sticky ground that reeked of booze. According to her parents, she hadn't lived the most fulfilling of lives, and maybe they were right. Hopefully though, whatever meagre existence she had led up to this point would be enough to carry her on to at least a somewhat decent afterlife.

At least, she was somewhat high, so the pain of being eaten alive would be somewhat lessened, right?

But just as the ghoul was about to chop her up into minced meat with its kagune still dripping with Jun's blood, sharp daggers came flying out from above, stopping the ghoul's movements at once.

Damn, maybe she was higher than she realized.

Almost out of thin air, the cramped, dead-end of the alleyway became filled with people, all attacking the ghoul as a unit. There were flashes and stabs, the sound of quinque on kagune, and blood spraying about. It was like a scene straight out of a slasher flick, and Rena was the main protagonist.

Yeah, if there was ever a movie with Rena as the main character, it would definitely be a slasher.

And then as quickly as the battle started, it was over. The team, with their specialized weapons and advantage of numbers were clearly no match for the lone ghoul, and it withered to the ground, seizing and convulsing. Rena had to try hard not to look at it too closely. She had limited supplies of guilt, and it'd be a shame if she wasted it on something that was out for her blood just seconds before.

The smallest member of the apparent suicide squad walked over to her, while the rest called on their beepers for backup and investigated the rest of the alley.

"Good evening, I'm Juuzou Suzuya," he said casually, as if he were wringing up her bags in a supermarket. "Me and my team are apart of the Commission of Counter Ghoul. Can you stand?"

Right, the CCG were pretty famous in the 13th ward lately. New doves from headquarters were causing quite the stir. Word on the street was even the Yakuza had some eyes on them.

"Rena Shibuya," she said, lying about her last name and accepted his hand in helping her up off the cold pavement. For the investigator's small size, he was surprisingly strong, and was able to lift her effortlessly to her feet. If he really wanted to, he could probably throw her over one shoulder and carry her off easily. "And I'm fine, thanks."

"Good," he said smiling and pulling a lollipop out of his jacket. "Then you can answer some of Hanbee's questions. If you answer them all, I'll give you this treat." With a click of his opposite set of fingers, a tall man with long black hair appeared, a clipboard and pen in hand.

Great, this was also not how Rena was hoping to spend her night.

"Look, no offense _Marilyn_ _Manson_ ," she said. "But I kinda just want to go home. So if you and your _little_ friend could let me off the hook here, you'd be the best." To add emphasis, she winked and flashed a smile, but Hanbee only cocked his head to the side, clearly not interested in letting her go.

And then she remembered the most obvious thing that would definitely delay her interrogation, if not put it off entirely.

"Jun!" she shouted out suddenly, earning the attention of all the ghoul investigators in the vicinity. "My friend Jun! He was injured just a little further down the street, and I think he still might be back there. I don't know if he's still alive..."

Suzuya sighed, and gave a signal to one of the investigators standing closest to the end of the street. "Nakarai, you and the others go to investigate. I'll stay here with Hanbee in case more ghouls show up looking for their friend." The investigator named Nakarai nodded, before leading the others down the street.

"Now where were we?" asked Hanbee, tapping the pen against the side of the clipboard, her plan at escape proving futile.

"Why were you out here in the first place, Rena-chan?" interrupted Suzuya, quickly losing interest in being the look-out, and coming over to help Hanbee.

"Does that even matter?" Rena countered, hand on her hip. The two men in front of her hardly looked like professional investigators at all. Why should she have to answer any of their nosey questions? They looked more like they'd belong at a Kiss concert, or in a hot topic commercial than in that alleyway interrogating her about ghoul affairs.

"We are the CCG, so naturally we have a right to know why you were out at the exact same time and place of the ghoul group we've been tracking for weeks now," said Hanbee, offering an explanation.

But Rena wasn't sober enough to deal with all this. "So I'm a prostitute, and this is my corner! Geez. Get off my ass already."

Almost in unison, the two investigators looked her up and down with a curious expression. Sure, she wasn't exactly dressed as a hooker, but her clothes were revealing enough to pass. Not that she cared if they believed her lie or not. What she was doing that night was none of their business.

Still, it was clear she would be in CCG custody for a while.

Digging her hands through her jacket pocket, she pulled out a cigarette. "Anyone got a light?" Immediately the shorter one named Suzuya pulled a match out from behind his ear, lit it and handed it over.

"I didn't know you smoked, sir?" asked Hanbee.

"No," Suzuya explained. "You just never know when you might need a match."

Right.

"Hate to break your little bonding time," Rena said, taking a puff. "But don't you have more questions for me? I'd prefer it if I wasn't out here all night."

Before the two investigators could answer back, an ambulance siren wailed loudly from close by, and more ghoul investigators could be seen filling the alleyway from the street corner with their large brief cases.

"Well, Shibuya-san. It seems you picked a dangerous alley to turn tricks in," said Hanbee gravely, addressing Rena. "The place is currently swarming with ghouls."

Rena tried not to look surprised as he said this, but there was clear relief washing over her in knowing that it was probably a lucky thing the CCG found her before any more ghouls decided to show up.

"Come on," continued Hanbee, as Suzuya looked intently at her, eerily not breaking eye contact with her the entire time. "Let's get you to safely and check you out at the ambulance car. You can make sure your friend Jun is ok too."

Rena nodded and pulled out her phone as she followed behind. A text from her friend Nina told her the rest of their friends made it out safely from the ghoul infested streets.

 _Nina 12:16 AM_

Where are you? Rena?

 _Nina 12:17 AM_

Are you alive?

 _Nina 12:19 AM_

Please answer me back! Give me some sign you're still breathing!

 _Sent 12:19 AM_

Dufus. Of course I'm alive. Text you the details later.

"What are you doing?" asked Suzuya suddenly from behind her. It was an innocently posed question, but startling enough to make her drop her cigarette and her phone, sending it clattering to the gravel of the alleyway.

"Damnit!" she yelled, turning around to face him. Only it was an awkward motion, because he was closer than expected. In an instant, he took advantage of her hesitation and had her pinned against the stone wall just behind an emergency vehicle, Hanbee nowhere to be found.

"You are lying about what you were doing here tonight, Rena-chan," he said calmly, although increasing pressure on her wrists. "I don't know why, but I'm gonna find out."

Rena glared straight back into his blank, red eyes, not allowing uncertainty to show through. "If you really want to know, then stop by here sometime tomorrow night. I'll give you a discount," she said with a wink. She didn't really know why she was taking this prostitute thing so far. Once you lie, you just kind of have to roll with it.

Suzuya didn't let go of her though, but smiled back. "Alright. How much do you cost then?"

What the hell kind of investigator asks a question like that?

But now Rena was stuck with a real dilemma. How much did a girl cost around this part of Shibuya? Was 20,000 yen too high? 500 yen too low? With one look to Suzuya's face, she could tell he was only messing with her, and just waiting to hear her answer something stupid back, to catch her in the lie.

"500," she said finally, deciding to low ball it. Unfortunately, Suzuya's face told her she automatically got that one wrong.

How the hell would he know anyway? The little pervert.

"Wow, that's pretty cheap for these parts Rena-chan. I wonder how you can afford all those nice clothes with a salary like that."

Realizing she was cornered, physically and mentally, Rena decided to give up, and started to laugh instead.

"Fine," she said through her chuckles. "You win. So what do you want from me?"

At this, Suzuya finally let go of her wrists and pushed himself off of her, allowing air to once again flow freely to and from her lungs.

"Meet me back here tomorrow so you can answer our questions for real. It'll give you some time to sober up off whatever drugs you're clearly on, too. I'll even let you buy me some cake afterwards, if you're a good girl."

What? Was that supposed to be some sort of pick up line? "Yeah whatever," she said, finding the strength within her not to roll her eyes and flip off all the investigators in the vicinity.

Taking the end of Suzuya's lecture as a cue that she was currently off the hook, she spun around on her heel and began storming down the alley towards the front of the medical van. Spotting Jun laying on a stretcher, she stopped to notice he was writhing in pain, clutching his bloodied leg as nurses began hoisting him up into the van.

"Idiot," she whispered under her breath at him. "At least you're still alive, though."

Unfortunately, she had not the time to stay and look further into his condition. It was nearly 1 in the morning, and she had to shimmy back through the windows before her parents caught her sneaking out again.

* * *

The next-day hangover, coupled with the sprinting-for-your-life ghoul freak show from the night before, was absolute torture on her body in the morning.

It was her parent's current pounding on the door, yelling at her to get up, that was the real icing on the cake though.

"Go away!" she grumbled, sticking her head underneath a pillow to better block out the noise. "Leave me the hell alone!"

"Rena!" shouted the shrill voice of her mother from behind the door. "You have a guest! Don't be so rude!"

Guest? Was it Nina finally coming to make sure she was alive? But Rena's mother would never dignify Nina with such an honorable title as 'guest'.

Kicking off the tangled sheets around her, she crawled lazily out of bed and swung the door wide open.

Standing in the middle of the hallway right next to her mother, was not Nina, nor any one of her friends, but the short, black haired investigator from the night before - Suzuya. And there _she_ was, standing in the doorway to her bedroom, hair a mess, makeup askew and nothing but her underwear on.

 _What the hell is he doing here? How did he get my address?_

Amid her mother's baffled attempts at apologizing to the 'guest', Rena slammed the door in their faces, and scrambled around the room. Finally finding some shorts and a crop top to throw on, wiping her face and combing her hair out with her fingers, she re-presented herself in the hallway.

Her mother gave her a curious look, as if begging her to explain what was going on. Suzuya only stood behind the woman innocently with a big, shit-eating grin on his face.

Now that Rena had a better look at the investigator in the artificial light of the hallway, she realized he was kind of cute. Like in a cuddly-little serial killer kind of way. And he totally looked the type that her mother would hate for her to bring home. In fact, she could almost see her mother reeling at having someone so unsightly land on their doorstep that morning, sipping her breakfast tea and clutching at her pearls.

"Do you care to explain something dear? How do you know this young… man?"

It seemed more like a question of Suzuya's gender identity than anything else.

At least, it looked like the investigator hadn't ratted Rena out yet, as her mother looked to be completely in the dark about the whole situation. Rena wondered just how far Suzuya would be willing to run with it, if she took the opportunity to come up with a lie.

"This is my boyfriend Juuzou-kun, mom," she said, running up and placing an arm around his waist. His whole body stiffened at her touch, but he surprisingly keep silent.

And watching her mother's pursed-lip expression drop into a horrified, mouth-agaped one was well worth the lie.

"Silly me, I almost forgot to tell you! He's here to pick me up for our date, so toodles."

Even more surprisingly, Suzuya allowed her to lead them down the stairs and out through the front door, straight into the ritzy district of the 13th ward Rena and her family lived in.

"I didn't know you were such a liar, Rena _Shibuya_ ," he said once they were far enough away from the house. "Or should I say _Ogata_? I can't believe you gave the CCG a fake name. Now how am I supposed to trust you'll give me accurate information about the case?"

"After helping me out back there and not telling my parents about what happened last night," she said, turning back on the sidewalk to face him, finally letting go of his waist. "I'll give you whatever you want."

"Good. Then first, let's go get some cake!"

… Was this guy for real?

* * *

Once they arrived at the little bakery across town, Rena began to reflexively pull on the hem of her shirt, attempting to hide at least her belly button piercing. Even if she was dressed for the weather, she was severely out of place in the fancy bake shop. So was Suzuya, but he didn't seem to mind the stares they received. Together they made an odd couple.

The only real reason she dressed like this was to piss of her prissy mother, but it honestly made her feel self conscious out in public. Not that that was enough to drive her to change.

"Here," Suzuya said, pulling his unbuttoned CCG jacket off and tossing it around her shoulders. It was uncertain if he did it though, because he could sense her discomfort, or because he thought she was cold.

After the investigator ordered the most expensive thing on the menu and made Rena pay for it, they sat down and began the interrogation.

"So, what were you _really_ doing in the alley last night?" he asked in between mouthfuls of dessert.

According to her, the type of guy who had saved her life, had stitches all over his body, and didn't sell her out to her parents was someone who could be trusted. It's not like she particularly cared what happened to the people she was involved with anyway.

"I was out partying with some friends, that are associated with the yakuza. Not Jun though. There was supposed to be some business dealings later that night, and we were gonna make a ton of money off it, all we had to do was give the package to the right guy. Of course, we got chased out by that ghoul instead. That's all I know."

"I figured as much," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "That ghoul we were stalking has some sort of connection with the yakuza as well. We're still trying to fit all the missing pieces together." Suzuya took a pause from his cake to look her up and down. "How old are you anyway?"

"20," she replied easily.

"Come on Rena-chan, I thought you weren't gonna lie to me anymore. Is it because I'm being rude and not letting you try a piece of my cake? I'll let you have a bite then, if you tell me your real age?"

Not having eaten anything proper since lunch the day before, Rena accepted this offer and shoved a spoonful of the delicious, overpriced dessert in her mouth. "I'm 16. Turning 17 next month."

Suzuya looked genuinely surprised. Although she was short, Rena had always looked… very mature for her age. It was easy to pass as 20 with a body like hers and get into all the bars at night. He did see her in her underwear after all, so he would know.

"Aren't you in highschool or something then?"

"Who are you, my dad?" she asked, mostly teasing. "Of course I'm in school, when I decide to go."

Rena dropped a hand in her pocket, deciding it was about time to text her friends back so they didn't think her and Jun were sitting in some ghoul's stomach, but then realized something. "Shit!" she exclaimed suddenly. "I think I forgot to pick my phone back up when I dropped it last night! Sorry, but I gotta go."

"Wait," said Suzuya, rapid firing the last few bites of cake into his mouth. "I'll come with. There's something I dropped there too."

So together, the two took a train that would lead them to the shady end of the 13th ward.

"How did you find my house anyway?" she asked in the bumpy train car.

"What, did you think I stalked you home or something?" he asked with an eerie grin.

Honestly, she wouldn't be surprised if that were the case. But Rena only shrugged her shoulders.

"You're not that special, civilian-chan. It was that friend of yours, Jun or something who confessed. I told him you got eaten, and he had to give me the address to your house so I could inform your parents."

"What? Why did you… Now who is the liar?" she muttered under her breath.

"It wasn't a lie," he stated indignantly. "It was a _joke_. I told him the truth afterwards. That's how you can tell the difference."

 _Joke, my ass._

Once the train came to a complete stop and they arrived in that seedy part of the neighborhood, Rena quickly ran ahead to begin her search. The alleyways around these parts all looked the same, so she had to start somewhere to avoid having to look around all day.

"Where are you going Rena-chan? It's this way," Suzuya said, standing a few meters back. He was pointing his thumb in the direction of the darkest, most eerie looking walkway.

Of course that's where they were last night.

Taking a deep breath, he led the way down the back alley. She decided to trust in Suzuya's tracking abilities and sense of direction, because if by herself, she would have been completely lost by the fourth turn.

And then by some miracle, she spotted it, up ahead in the distance.

Quickly, she ran over and gathered up the pieces of her cell phone that broke open over the cement, after Suzuya scared the living shit out of her last night and made her drop it.

"Battery's dead," she mumbled. Oh well, that was fixable. Turning back around however, her stomach sank when she found herself alone.

"Investigator-san?" she called out. He couldn't be too far away, right? "S-Suzuya-san?"

The alley at the other end of the street seemed deserted as well, although after a few minutes of peaking around the area, she heard a rustling behind a dumpster.

"Alright Suzuya, let's go. This place is giving me the creeps."

Walking over to the dumpster, she slowly realized that whatever was rustling around in the trash was not the investigator.

Rena turned around to begin booking it over to the main street, but barely made it a few steps before the ghoul was on top of her, pinning her down.

"Looks like today's my lucky day," the ghoul growled, two kakugan shimmering out from under his greasy bangs. "Young girl meat is the best."

His hot, stale breath heaved in her face as he lowered his head to take a bite from her neck. Once again, Rena resigned herself to death.

\- But it was premature. The ghoul's teeth sank into her soft flesh, but just barely penetrated enough to cause it to bleed, before his head lopped off its body, and rolled over onto the ground beside them.

Relief.

"You should have gotten here sooner! This is the second time this week I've been nearly eaten by a ghoul," she complained loudly.

"How often does this sort of thing happen to you?" asked Suzuya, genuinely intrigued. In a second, his large scythe-type weapon was withdrawn and flowed easily back into it's briefcase. Was he carrying that briefcase around the whole time? It definitely looked new.

"This week sets the record!"

He smiled and reached down to help her up, once more showing off how easily he could manhandle her if he so desired.

"Normal humans hardly ever encounter ghouls," he scolded. "Maybe that says something about the type of losers you're hanging out with."

 _Excuse me?_

"Who are you to judge me?" she said, pointing an accusatory finger at him. "You're one to talk, you know. You don't look professional at all. You dress and act like you were raised in a circus."

"Close," said Suzuya with a smile.

Normally grown ups offered some sort of resistance to her like this. " _Why do you treat your mom like that?"_ or " _If you want to make it anywhere in life, you have to at least graduate high school."_ She knew they did it because " _I just don't want to see you throw your life away and turn out like your dad."_ Nobody actually cared about her, just about her family's image. Although Suzuya seemed to be coming from a different place, it still made her uncomfortable to hear his scoldings.

"Whatever!" she said. Throwing her arms in the air, she stormed off. Her phone was dead, the front part of her clothes were soaked in a ghoul's blood she just watched being decapitated, she was in the middle of nowhere with a psycho ghoul investigator, and she was so done.

"I'm going home now," she yelled back at him. "Have a nice life killing ghouls and sticking your nose into other people's business!" And with that, she rounded the corner, tossing Suzuya's bloodied jacket off onto the ground as she went.


	2. Welcome to the Circus

**Hello, back again ~ Tell me what you think! When I was coming up with the idea for this story I stopped where the last chapter ended, but thought "Damn, they're off to a rough start. How are they supposed to fall in love now?" Then I remembered this, and thought it suited Rena's life well.  
**

 **Welcome to the Circus! Also, this and the next chapter is going to have spoilers up to around chapter 32 in Re: (the auction raid)**

* * *

 ***5 Months Later***

One minute Rena was in a taxi cab, on her way to a gig. The next, her world went black.

It all started when her friend Nina met this woman at a shady bar by the name of Mayu. Mayu was cute, funny and dangerous - everything Nina and Rena were dying to be. What's more, Mayu was offering them a job to earn a huge amount of cash. All they had to do was help out at a party, where some wealthy hot shots were apparently gathering.

"What do you say?" Nina had asked, music pumping all around the club. "Sounds like fun, right? Wanna do it together?"

"Sure," she had replied back then. "No big deal."

Except it was a big deal.

The night they were supposed to meet Mayu in front of a hotel to take a cab over to the real location, Rena received a text.

 _Nina 6:58 PM_

Can't come tonight :( Something came up. Make lots of $$$ girl!

 _Great_. Literally two minutes before they were supposed to get in the cab, Rena's best friend bails. Begrudgingly she stepped into the cab, shoving past Mayu with her heavily-applied sexy 'adult' perfume who just shrugged, and together they took off squealing down the street.

The next thing Rena knew everything went black, and when she awoke, she found herself trapped in some sort of cage.

 _Where the hell am I?_

Damnit! Mayu didn't talk about any weird, kinky shit. If she was supposed to pop out and start dancing, they should have told her first before knocking her out. Was she... being kidnapped? Discomfort settled as she realized this quick and easy job didn't detail her being locked in a crate.

The box she was in allowed no room for her to even move around freely, and there was no way to know what was going on outside of it. Even her cell phone had been taken away. Nina of course, the one who dragged her into this mess, didn't have to deal with this shit because 'something came up'. Rena would wring her neck when she got out of here! If she ever did, of course.

"Help!" she screamed. "Get me the hell out of here!" Pounding her fists furiously against the metal bars holding her in didn't seem to be a very effective form of escape, but she was fresh out of options.

It must have been at least a half an hour - maybe two hours? - later when she finally heard something rustling around outside.

"Hello?" she called, not finding the will to give up just yet. "Is someone there? Please help, I'm trapped in here!"

To her surprise, at her command one of the walls to the crate was promptly pried open, and on the other side stood her saviors.

Or were they her captors?

Probably captors.

The men looming above were wearing black stockings over their faces - together they looked like bandits straight out of a movie.

"I'll give you whatever you want," she began cautiously, backing up to the end of her small crate as they advanced. "My parents have a lot of money! If I call them right now we can wire however much you want, straight into your bank accounts!"

It was no use - these men were clearly not listening to her.

Grabbing her forcefully by the arm, they guided her through a maze of a hundred more closed crates.

Were there people in all of these? Is this some sort of human trafficking ring?

Rena's heart was pounding loudly in her chest as they shoved her all the way through into a dark room. She was being led along clumsily, until they finally arrived at some curtains.

"Please, I have drugs! Money! I know important people! You don't have to do it like this! I can give you anything you want!"

Suddenly she felt herself tangled up in the curtains, and with one last final shove, fell through them, and landed onto a blindingly bright stage.

"I present to you the next item on our list!" a masculine voice announced over a loudspeaker. Slowly Rena's eyes began to adjust to the lighting, and she was able to make out an auditorium hall full of spectators staring back at her. "This one is not in our catalogues. We'll start the bidding at one million!"

What the hell was going on here?

"Does anybody want a nice, voluptuous play-thing?" said a girl announcer into a microphone, coming up behind Rena and jiggling one of her breasts.

Rena attempted to slap the woman's hands away and fight back - it looked like she could have taken on the petite female announcer easily enough - but then a rather large man dressed as a clown held her back. In fact, all three of the announcers on stage had a creepy, clown-like feel. Was this... the circus?

If it was, she was now the main attraction.

"Number 588 starts us off with one million!" said the ringleader, pointing out into the audience. "Can I get a two million?"

"This girl is only seventeen years old!" said the woman announcer, egging the people on. "Lean and tender meat is sure to be yours!"

Meat? With that a dreaded thought occurred to Rena as she looked up and stared into the giant man's eyes, whose belly she was currently resting against.

 _These people are all ghouls._

There was no doubt about it - looking back down at her was two kakugan. And from behind the ringleader's mask, there was two shimmering black and red eyes as well.

"Please… no…" she whimpered. The hall filled with masked bidders offered less comfort.

"Six million! Thank you for your patronage sir!"

She was being auctioned off… to ghouls?

"Nine million to number 1004! Do I hear a ten?"

 _This can't be happening, this can't be happening, this can't be…_

"And sold to number 113 for fifteen million!"

Fifteen million yen? Is that how much her life was worth to these ghouls? Was that… a lot to spend on a human life?

Soon after, Rena's moment in the spotlight was over, and she was being dragged off stage by the giant clown, and into the arms of none other than... Mayu herself.

"Mayu!" Rena exclaimed, willingly letting herself fall into the scantily clad woman's arms and breath in her suffocating perfume. "Please help me, I have no idea what's going on! There are ghouls everywhere! I just want to go home now…"

The older woman snaked a hand up her back and through her hair, patting it down gently.

"I can't believe you only netted me fifteen million. I thought for sure you'd be worth so much more." Mayu's words were like dripping poison, and it caused Rena to retract from her arms.

"What are you...?"

And then the blindfolded zipper from around Mayu's face dropped, revealing two kakugan looking back at her.

"Fuck you!" Rena screamed, kicking Mayu in the chin (causing little-to-no damage), and then bolted down the hallway.

"Go get her boys. I can't waste my time on fifteen mil," Mayu said casually from behind her, as if fifteen million yen was growing on trees, and one little leaf happened to blow away in the wind.

But Rena had no time to waste thinking about Mayu anymore if her mission was to escape. Quickly she found an open room and locked herself in it, just in the nick of time before the previous three goonies in stocking caps rounded the hall.

It was foolish to think a simple metal door could hold back one, much less three ghouls though. Instantly kagunes smashed through the walls, ripping the entire doorframe out with it.

"No!" she screamed, falling underneath some collapsed debris. Relatively unscathed however, Rena decided to play dead for the moment as the dust settled, to wait until the moment was right - until one of the goons came wandering just within her arms reach.

"Hey boss, I think I found her," said one of the meatheads. Just as his face came dangerously close, she pushed up on the bar of wood giving her shelter, bonking him in the head with it, and then proceeded to run towards the exit.

It was obvious a plank of wood to the nogen would do little else but temporarily stun these ghouls. She had come this far by doing less than one percent damage to the lot of them anyhow, but she was hoping it would at least buy her enough time to make it to the end of the hallway.

But it was wrong to assume as much.

A snake-like kagune coiled around her waist, pulling her to an abrupt stop. Feeling as if her ribs might crack, she cried out in pain as the ghouls dragged her backwards, banging her head against the walls as they went. Nobody seemed very amused by her antics.

Her attempts to struggle the rest of the way were not fruitful either, as ghoul strength trumps teenage angst.

Nearly a half a year ago some investigators took down a ghoul in an alleyway Rena and her friends were hanging out in. They made it look so easy then.

Before the ghouls arrived at the place appointed to store humans until after the auction however, a loud commotion suddenly started from the floors above them.

"Shit!" stated one of the ghouls with her, ears pricked to the ceiling. "The doves are here!"

Immediately the kagune gripping her waist uncoiled and retracted.

Doves. Rena heard that word before, and was currently racking her brain to try and remember where.

"But what do we do about the girl, boss?"

 _That's right! Doves were the CCG!_ Her chances at survival just multiplied. Seriously, she should just start a fund to hire a dove as a personal bodyguard already.

"Leave 'er! I don't care," said the ghoul boss with a kansai dialect. "We ain't gettin' paid enough to deal with doves too. Let's get outta here."

And just like that, Rena was left alone in the hallway, crumpled and holding onto her bruised ribs.

It was a difficult situation to be in, because there was no way of knowing where Rena currently was. She was trapped somewhere in a building she'd never been in before with an auction hall, and the CCG was currently infiltrating. The noises seemed to be coming from upstairs, so all she had to do was get back to where she came from and she'd be safe, right?

Still, there was no way of knowing if she was even in the 13th ward anymore, or even still in Tokyo. She had to be in Japan still, because the auctioneers and audience were all speaking Japanese, so at least that was hopeful. What was important at the moment however, was to calmly focus on one thing at a time. Her first mission, was to retrace their steps and make it back to the upper levels of the auction hall.

Luckily she managed to make it back to there without much delay. The few ghouls along the way were too focused on escaping the doves to pay much attention to her.

It was a strange thing to see the previously packed auditorium now nearly empty, with the last remaining bidders pushing and shoving at the exits and cramming into the halls to escape the soon-to-come bloodbath that the CCG seemed to unleash whenever they were involved. It was a little difficult going against the current to get inside, but here she was now, facing her salvation in the dark room.

And then Rena ducked as some knives came flying in her direction. A dark, hooded figure just a few rows ahead pushed off of a seat and jumped to the other end of the auditorium hall. The ghoul - she was guessing it was a ghoul to have been able to traverse a distance like that - seemed to be fighting a little girl on the center of the stage.

Didn't those three hoodlums say the doves had infiltrated? Wasn't everyone running away from the auction hall? Why then, was there only one, lone girl here? Surely everyone couldn't have been cowering away just from her?

Picking up one of the knives that had planted itself in a seat cushion just a little ways ahead, she held it to her chest and thought of a new plan.

At least, the little girl on stage seemed to be holding her own against the ghoul that was currently using the auditorium hall as his own personal trampoline. If Rena was so bold, she might even say it appeared the girl was winning.

That girl sure did seem familiar though. Maybe Rena had met her in the 13th ward somewhere.

She ducked her head down behind the rows of seats just as the girl on stage fired off another round of her knives at the ghoul dressed in all black.

The knives.

She had definitely seen those knives before. They were the ones that the team of doves had used to save her in a dark alley all those months ago. Realization dawned that what Rena currently held in her hand was no ordinary knife, but a ghoul weapon - a quinque. And with one peak over at the girl on stage, who had now taken off her wig to fight more effectively, Rena realized that it was the same investigator she had met before.

Here in the middle of the auction hall, was Suzuya. In a dress. With a detachable leg.

Yes, this was the circus indeed.

Closing her eyes, Rena gripped the knife even tighter in her hands. Now would be the best time to try and escape. With a quinque, she at least wasn't utterly defenceless in the case of a ghoul attack. And there was bound to be more CCG investigators waiting outside, right? All that was left was to find an exit before a ghoul could find her.

Making up her mind quickly, she stood up and bolted for the door - only to find the auction hall completely empty now, with no sign of the ghoul or Suzuya. The two must have finished their battle while she was formulating a strategy.

But who won?…

Rena could have just left right then, and everything would have been ok. There was just this nasty, tugging feeling at her heart that made her stay. Investigator Suzuya had saved her life once, right? (Three times now actually, if you count this commotion he started). And so against her better judgement, it was impossible for her to leave the auction house and not return the favor.

Hesitantly, Rena began to walk down the steps towards the stage. All she had to do was take a quick peek in. If her cross-dressing friend wasn't there, or if he was already being made a meal by a vengeful ghoul, she'd haul ass out of there. Then she could at least say she tried. As simple as walking on a tightrope.

"Hey!" she hissed, peaking her head onto the platform. "Investigator Suzuya? You there?" Crawling onto the stage proved a difficult task, but once she was on, she immediately wished she was back off. It was downright creepy standing on stage of the empty auditorium, where she was just auctioned off for fifteen million yen to some slobbering ghoul.

 _Just a quick peek behind the curtain,_ she reminded herself. _That's all, and then I can go home_..

As soon as her hand brushed against the black curtain separating the hall from the back room though, a hand shot out from behind it and latched onto her wrist. Before Rena had time to call for help, the hand pulled her in and secured the other hand over her mouth.

"Relax. It's me," said a familiar voice.

Oh, thank god.

"Suzuya!" she hissed as soon as he let go of her face. His other arm was now wrapped protectively around her waist, and did not seem to be letting go anytime soon. Although she didn't really mind being pressed up against him like this - being in his arms was the first time she had felt safe all night. "Please tell me what's going on here," she whined. "I'm confused out of my mind. Why the hell are there so many ghouls everywhere?"

"It seems like you got tricked," Suzuya whispered in her ear. "Instead of whatever you were promised, you ended up being brought to a ghoul auction show as the merchandise. Congrats. My guess is you didn't take my advice about the losers you were hanging out with."

Rena frowned, remembering their sour conversation all those months ago, and was slightly surprised he remembered all that too. But she bit her tongue. She'd rather endure a harsh lecture from Suzuya behind the curtains than be kicked out on her own into the hall at this point.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. So what's the plan?" she asked, biting at her new lip ring impatiently.

Suzuya's frown could almost be heard through the darkness.

"Umm. _I'm_ gonna find out where the ghouls are heading, and _you're_ gonna leave the building."

"B-but," she complained. "I can't leave the building by myself! I have no idea where I'm going!" His arm wrapped around her waist finally loosened, and she stepped back around, face to face with him.

Without breaking his composure, Suzuya grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back slightly. This girl was just a little too close to him for comfort. "If you just exit the auditorium through the back entrance and keep heading north, you should make it out soon enough. More investigators gathering there now and they can help you."

"I don't have a compass!" she hissed back, stepping forward into him once again after his hands lowered from her shoulders. "How the hell am I supposed to tell which direction north is inside a windowless building?"

Flustered, Suzuya grabbed her shoulders once again and pushed her back, but before dropping his arms he brought his hands up to her face.

"Close your eyes for a second," he whispered in her ear as his fingers came and gently closed her eyelids. "Listen really closely to the sounds you hear. Screams. Battle. Cicadas. Traffic. Do you hear it now? Investigators have just entered the building."

The only thing Rena could hear was the sound of her heart thumping in her chest as he breathed into her ear. The only thing she could feel was his hands cupped around her face. Her eyes fluttered open. "No. I don't hear any of those things. I don't have super hearing."

For some reason, despite the fact that he was dressed as a relatively pretty girl, with him so near it felt like the right time to kiss. If they were in a slasher, this would probably be about the time she dropped her panties and they made furious love to each other in the middle of the auction hall. So, before the investigator could protest or pull away, she pushed herself more fully against him and leaned her head in, making contact with his chapped lips.

Suzuya must have been stunned by her actions, because for several seconds he just stood there awkwardly, stiff as a board as she kissed him passionately.

And then he pulled away, furiously shoving her off of him.

"Stop, you idiot," he said, unsure of what had just taken place or how to respond appropriately. "Stop messing around! You have to get out of here. Now."

Never before had Juuzou concerned himself so much with some random, rude civilian's safety. If she had approached him a few years ago like this, he would have just ditched her. Maybe he would have knocked her out and left her in a closet to deal with later. Or maybe he would have just killed her. He really had grown a lot these past years.

Rena, however, was not going to give up that easily. "No. I'm staying with you. Don't you know that people die when they get separated?" So far, she had seen Suzuya kill multiple ghouls, and if the scattered bodies around the front of the stage were any testament, he could take on at least a dozen of them single-handedly. Even if his plan was to head straight into danger, she'd rather take her chances with the experienced investigator than go at it alone.

"I don't think you fully understand the situation. I can't protect civilians and fight ghouls at the same time. You're weak, and you'll hold me back. Go get to safety and stop making me repeat myself."

"I'm not weak! See, I have a quinque!" Feeling rather stupid, Rena lifted up his quinque knife she had retrieved from the seat cushion a while back.

Suzuya reached out to her, as if thinking about taking it back by force, but then thought better of it.

"Whatever. Keep it for now to defend yourself. If you're going to be a stubborn-ass about it, I could lead you to the entrance hall, I guess."

That sounded like a hell of a lot better idea than being left behind, so she nodded her head in agreement.

Together, they left the auction hall, gathered a few more of his scattered quinque along the way, and made it through a couple of twists and turns in the hallways, before finally encountering their first group of ghouls.

Luckily for Rena however, Suzuya was a lot more impressive at killing them than she could have ever imagined. All she could do was curl up in a ball at the end of the hallway with the quinque knife held out in desperately front of her as Investigator Suzuya proceeded to solo five ghouls at once, like it was an average Saturday afternoon for him. Like he might go have some ice cream after this was all over. That definitely sounded like something he might do.

She had chosen wisely to stick by this one's side.

"Rena-chan, what are you doing?" he asked with a smile on his face, coming over and kneeling down by her side after he had finished off all the ghouls in the hallway. "Your defensive position won't be very effective at defending against anything at all, will it? You have so many openings. And... are your eyes closed? How will you see a ghoul coming at you? You've already proven to me that you're practically deaf, so that can't help you either."

Rena accepted his hand helping her off the floor, rolling her eyes at his comments. "Can we please talk about my technique some other time? Let's just go."

She tugged on his sleeve, but suddenly his interests were elsewhere. He pointed a finger down the opposite end of the hallway. "Over there," he muttered under his breath. "There are ghouls down there."

Rena didn't know what the big deal was. "Ok, so then let's go _this_ way," she said, once again tugging on his sleeve in the opposite direction. But Suzuya was like a brick wall sometimes.

"No, these ghouls are different. They're not Aogiri, but auction participants."

 _Aogiri? Gesundheit?_

"I'm going to follow them," he said. "They'll probably lead me to where I need to go."

"That sounds fine and dandy," she said. For added emphasis, she waved a hand in front of his face, trying to regain his attention. "But what about me? You're bringing me to safety first, remember?"

Without looking away from his target, he pointed a thumb behind him. "If you keep going down this hallway, you'll find some investigators quickly and they'll take care of you."

And without a moment to lose, Suzuya ran off towards the ghouls he heard, eager to not lose the trail, and left Rena behind.

* * *

Lucky for Rena, Suzuya seemed to have a magical set of ears, blessed by the gods, because everything worked out just as he said. The CCG group found her as soon as she rounded the corner, and they were able to lead her away to safety.

She didn't know how long she was standing outside the auction house with the few other people rescued from the inside, but it was probably at least a few hours. The emergency medical team on standby looked her thoroughly up and down, and apparently she was a lot more injured than she thought.

Numerous scratches and bruises littered her entire body, but it was nothing a little neosporin and foundation couldn't fix. There were a few major gashes as well including two that needed stitches, one on her stomach and one across her cheek. But maybe sporting a few stitches would earn her a pass to the circus Suzuya was currently living in.

Maybe it was the fact that he had saved her life multiple times already and she was now feeling some sort of damsel-in-distress complex towards him, but this guy was definitely someone who's head she wanted to get inside of. Rena never fooled herself into thinking that she was main-protagonist-material in this slasher film, but maybe with Suzuya by her side she could at least survive till the end of the movie.

And then, just before the sun began to rise up above the city skyline, victory cries resounded in the opera house parking lot.

"We did it!"

"Aogiri is retreating!"

"We've found the rest of the civilians inside and they are being escorted out as we speak."

Hip hip hooray.

But all Rena was worried about was Suzuya. With his skills, he had to have made it through that hell hole alive, but now finding him through the mass of people filling the streets would be the hard part. She didn't want him to disappear out of her life again like last time.

Rena must have been combing the sidewalks for about a half an hour, looking behind every CCG and medical vehicle, when she finally caught sight him. Luckily he wasn't that difficult to spot - he was the only boy wearing a dress and makeup.

Smiling and running up to go greet him, she gave pause. She hadn't showered since running away from ghouls all night, and there was dried blood crusted all over her clothes and in her hair. Did she smell? Moreover, would he think it's weird that she was waiting around the auction building for hours just to see him again? If he raised an eyebrow, she at least had a few lies readily available though.

 _Oh funny running into you! The doctors wanted me to wait around for a bit, so I decided to just take a walk. You-You're not stalking me are you?_

Stupid girly reasons weren't the only thing making her hesitate however. Currently Suzuya was standing around a group of investigators - the one's she recognized from before as his team. Although there was certainly celebration in the air, there seemed to be an aura of calm somberness around them too. Rena couldn't quite pinpoint it. Why would they be sad? Nobody important died.

"Su… Suzuya? Is that you? Uh… Fun… Funny running into..."

The investigator looked, and instantly his eyes lit up and the mood seemed brighter. Rena wondered if he was hoping to see her after the auction clean-up as well. Or maybe he just wanted the quinque back he had lent to her.

"Rena-chan! What are you still doing here?"

The rest of Suzuya's squad members gave the two some space, but looked on from a few feet away, obviously intrigued that the girl whose ass they saved a few months ago managed to wind up at the ghoul auction too.

"I was… hoping to… give you your quinque back!" she said, chickening out with her confession and thrusting the knife handle into his chest to receive.

 _Suzuya is an adult right? What would he think if I told him my feelings like some highschool girl? He'd never take me seriously. Despite the fact that I_ am _a highschool girl._

"Oh!" he said, happy at the thought of having his quinque back. He reached up and took it, fingers brushing slightly against her own. Was she the only one hyper aware of every touch he gave her?

Suzuya sat himself down onto the curb and pulled his hollow leg off. It was a sudden motion that was surprising at first, until Rena remembered it was a prosthetic.

"You can call me Juuzou, by the way," he said. He understood it was appropriate for people to call him Suzuya at work, but it felt awkward and stuffy for him to hear it from anybody who wasn't a superior.

There was no way he could have know Rena assumed he was flirting with her.

"Ok... Juuzou," she said, blushing. "Then I guess, the real reason I haven't left the premises yet, is because… I have no idea where I am."

She chickened out again, but this time, it wasn't a lie.

"Oh?" Juuzou asked, tilting his head to the side as he shoved the quinque knife back into the hollow part of his leg and strapped it back on.

Awkwardly, she scratched her head. "Yeah. I don't even have a cell phone, or money for a cab."

"I can let you borrow Hanbee's cell phone if you want to call your parents?" he offered. But before he could signal to his partner, Rena stopped him.

"Even if I call them now, I doubt they'd answer." She bit her lip ring again, not sure if she was over-sharing or not, but decided to keep going. "I ran away a few months ago. Well, they practically kicked me out. So I don't really have anywhere I could return to anyway."

Suddenly, she felt Juuzou's warm jacket slide over her shoulders and envelop her. She had lost her own jacket sometime between the cab ride and the auction house, and the tiny tank top and mini skirt she decided to wear that day was hardly enough cover for the crisp November weather.

"Maybe… instead… I could stay with you for the night?"

Juuzou frowned at her words. He didn't understand much about women, but he understood enough the social implications of having an underaged girl stay the night at his place. Plus after that unsettling kiss she attempted backstage of the auction hall...

"I won't be a bother!" she said, quickly reading his facial expression. "All I really need is a corner of your floor to sleep on. I can be gone by morning if you want, it's just, I've been really having a rough time lately, and anything will be better than sleeping on another park bench tonight..."

It appeared the investigator remained unmoved by her embellished sob story, even with fake tears beginning to form in her eyes, so instead she went on to plan B.

"If you let me stay, I can even bake you one of those fancy cakes you like in the morning, like what we had at that bakery?"

"... You know how to bake cakes?"

Plan B successful.

"Yup. I'm not an entirely useless bum, ya know. My mom and I used to bake a lot when I was little."

Perhaps, Juuzou supposed, it wasn't _that_ big of a deal if she came over and made him cake, right? Nobody would think they had bad intentions if cake was involved. Hanbee came over sometimes to give him treats and nobody thought _that_ was weird.

"Alright Rena-chan," he said, nodding his head. "I'll let you stay, as long as you make me cake then."

* * *

Rena was half asleep in the back seat of the CCG van, bundled up in Hanbee's and Juuzou's coats by the time the investigators were finally permitted to leave the crime scene. In fact, she slept all the way through the drive to Juuzou's home, when he scooped her up into his arms and carried her bridal style to his small apartment complex. He never had guests over, and didn't know where to put her. It was tempting to place her in the corner of his living room - as she suggested - but then remembered the sofa he inherited from Shinohara a few years back, so he supposed she could sleep there for the night.


	3. Admission

**So, you may notice this chapter kind of has a different tone than the rest of the chapters. It's because it's been months since I've written for this story, and I wrote it back then when I was kind of frustrated with FF, so sorry! I tried to imitate the style as close as possible, but it's more awkward and angsty. That's kind of the way I want though. At least, that's the only way I can imagine this ending. Maybe you won't notice the style difference at all. I hope you enjoy it at least!**

 **Thank you for all the favs/follows and reviews! I love reading what you guys have to say.**

* * *

Rena was half-asleep in the backseat of the CCG van, bundled up in Hanbee's and Juuzou's coats, by the time the investigators were finally permitted to leave the crime scene. In fact, she slept all the way through the drive to Juuzou's home, where he scooped her up into his arms and carried her bridal style into his small apartment complex. Besides his squad, Juuzou never had guests over, and didn't know where to put her. It was tempting to place her in the corner of his living room - as she originally suggested - but then remembered the sofa he inherited from Shinohara a few years back, so he supposed she could sleep there for the night.

It wasn't until the sound of Suzuya's creaky shower head being turned on in the morning on full blast, when she finally woke up.

It was apparent the investigator hardly knew how to handle guests staying over at his place, since Rena was positioned haphazardly on the edge of a cushion, with a heavy stack of neatly folded blankets piled on top of her.

Whatever.

As soon as the water turned off in the bathroom and the door swung open, Rena jumped off the couch and ran to go meet him in the short hallway.

"I hope you didn't mind I put you on the sofa," he said, black hair wet and stuck all over his face, with a white wife-beater on and a pair of shorts. "I didn't want to wake you up."

"That's ok," she said blushing. "Sofas are cool."

Sofas are cool? Who was she, an Ikea saleswoman?

Their conversation quickly took a turn for the awkward, as he continued to stare into her eyes, and her cheeks continued to blush red.

"So, do you… need something? To make the cake I mean?" he asked. And that's when it dawned on her that she was completely barring his exit from the bathroom, standing in the middle of the hallway.

"Oh, I… Uh…"

"I get it! You wanted to take a shower first, right?"

Eager to jump on any excuse she could find, so as to stop looking like a total idiot, Rena nodded her head.

"Here you go then," he said, tossing his used, sopping-wet towel into her arms. He took a step past her and walked into his bedroom, reaching up and ruffling her hair as he went by.

The water in the shower started lukewarm, Juuzou clearly having used up most of the hot water, and after just a few minutes it turned icy cold, so Rena had to cut her shower time in half. Oh well, freeloaders can't be choosers.

This investigator… what kind of life had he been leading up till this point? Thoughts like these about Juuzou kept popping into her mind about him as the frigid water poured over her cuts and bruises, stinging them. Some dried blood swirled with the water in the tub and spun down the drain.

She quickly dried her hair as best she could with the already dripping towel she was handed, and pulled her blood-stained clothes back on. She had made a decision.

He had saved her life, right? She had been desperately attempting to share her feelings of gratitude with him all night, but was unable to do so in a proper way. Saying things like "thank you" and "I'm so grateful" weren't sentences that came naturally to her like they seemed to for other people. And so she was going to repay Juuzou in the only way she really knew how. Something better than cake for breakfast.

With one final breath, Rena stepped out of the bathroom, and into his bedroom.

He was lying on his back in the bed, staring up into the ceiling, lost in thought when she walked in, startling him. It was odd. Juuzou never seemed like the kind of person to get startled by anything. He propped himself up on his elbows to look at her, not expecting to be bothered by her for the rest of the morning until the cake was done.

"Suzu… Juuzou I mean… I… Remember when..."

 _When I tried to kiss you on the auditorium stage?_ That was what she was trying to say, but she was suddenly filled with doubt. He had pushed her away forcefully that time. What would his reaction be if she just started stripping off all her clothes in the middle of his bedroom?

Impatient, Juuzou grabbed his wallet off the dresser and threw it in her direction. "There's a couple of bills in there."

"... What?" scoffed Rena, tugging on her short skirt self consciously, suddenly not in the mood to show him any appreciation at all. "I know I lied - er - _joked_ about it a long time ago, but I'm _really_ not a prosti-"

"What are you talking about Rena-chan? It's money for ingredients for the cake."

Rena's cheeks felt very hot. "Oh, right…"

Cake.

In a fit of embarrassment, she pulled the bills out of the wallet, grabbed one of his coats from the closet, and stormed out to the nearest grocery store.

* * *

After going to two different grocery stores _and_ a convenience store, she finally found all the ingredients for the cake. Although she was native to the 13th, this part of the ward might as well have been a maze. There were really cheap apartment towers in this area, so it attracted a lot of poor people.

Luckily some people gave her directions, or Rena wouldn't have been able to make her way back. Her phone had yet to be recovered from last night, but she wasn't all that eager to get it back.

By now, her friend Nina probably heard about the CCG's auction raid on the news and already informed her parents, who were probably blowing up her phone, thinking she was finally dead, all but ready to conduct a search party for their precious, missing daughter. If they still cared about her, that is.

Yet here she was, wandering around the 13th ward, just two train stops away from her house, trying to find cake ingredients for a crazy investigator.

Upon entering the apartment, arms full of groceries, Rena was surprised to find Juuzou not there. Instead, a note written in sloppy hiragana was presumably left for her on the kitchen table.

 _Welcome home Rena-chan! I forgot I had a meeting early this morning. Oops. So I have to go to the office. I'll eat the cake when I get back. Oh, and I have a friend coming over later. Would you give her a package for me? I left it in a brown bag by the door._

 _Also, I figured you'd be nosy, so there's no use in telling you not to go into my room. I have chosen to hide all my valuables instead, so you won't find them._

Who does this punk think he is?

Although he _did_ assume her nosiness correctly, it's rude to say it so blatantly.

The thing she was currently the most interested in snooping in however, was this package. A sneak peak in the brown bag showed it wasn't anything more than a rolled up ball of lacy fabric. Pretty, lacy fabric to be exact.

Carefully reaching into the bag and lifting it out, she unraveled it and realized it was a dress. The pretty, lacy dress Juuzou wore last night in his successful attempt at masquerading as a girl for the auction.

So, he's not actually the proud owner of the gothic lolita dress then. That at least was a comforting thought.

Rena frowned at the state it was in, crumpled up into a ball and wrinkled, ripped to shreds in a few places, smattered with blood and dirt. Who would want this dress back?

Then at the bottom of the bag was gift card to a local dry cleaner and seamstress. Somebody would have their hands full.

Sighing, she attempted to fold the dress neatly back into the back, and got up to begin her investigation of Juuzou's bedroom.

* * *

When the doorbell rang for the fifth time that day, Rena didn't give it any thought.

Juuzou apparently, had many daily visitors, including angry old neighbors wondering why Juuzou was being 'too quiet' (" _umm, he's not here…"_ ), to loan-sharks wondering where their money was.

"He's not here!" said Rena, grouchy and tired from being hassled all day, and not finding anything particularly "valuable" in Juuzou's room. Although she did find a wierd box full of knives in his closet, and a box of old candy hidden under one of the floorboards.

At the door, Rena was taken aback however to find a rather pretty, young woman standing on the other side, looking at her with sad, drug-worn eyes.

"Oh, Juuzou's gone?" the woman asked. "Sorry, he said to meet me here today. He's kind of scatterbrained like that I guess. I'll come by some other time."

It was obvious in the way this woman dressed and talked, that she was a prostitute.

The woman was almost down at the other end of the hallway, before Rena finally snapped out of it and called, "Hey wait, I think Juuzou wanted to give you something."

Reaching just inside the door, Rena pulled out the brown bag.

"I think this was meant for you."

At least, the creepy guys pounding on the door earlier and asking for their money probably didn't want a pretty dress.

The woman looked surprised for a moment, before coming back and glancing inside the bag. Instantly, her eyes began to well with tears.

"Stupid Juuzou, I told him he didn't have to give it back…"

For a while, Rena stood in the doorway, shifting from one foot to the other, watching the woman cry in the complex hallway, before finally…

"Hey, uh, do you wanna come in or something?"

The woman wiped her tears away, before smiling at Rena.

"I just made a cake," she continued. "It's supposed to be for Juuzou, but he probably won't mind if we eat a piece before he gets here."

That was a lie. Of course Juuzou would mind. And that's what made the idea sound even better to Rena.

"Juuzou is so great, isn't he? Is he your boyfriend?" asked the woman.

Rena, nearly choking, said, "Uh, what? W-why would you say that?"

"Oh, I didn't mean to imply anything," said the woman. For a stranger, she seemed quite genuine. "I was just thinking that it's really great he has someone like you to look after him."

Rena didn't know how to respond, so she simply smiled. Smiling and nodding seemed to get her through a lot of unknown situations. Luckily the woman seemed eager to leave.

"I have somewhere to be soon. Tell Juuzou I said thank you though. He's always looking out for people in this ward. People the cops sometimes won't even help. He saved my life from ghouls, and all he asked in return was this dress to borrow. It was a silly request but, I couldn't say no. I don't know if I can ever repay him."

"Wow," began Rena, but trailed off. She was going to say something snarky about Juuzou, but stopped herself. Juuzou really was a hero. Sarcasm didn't feel right at this moment.

* * *

Shortly after Rena finally finished frosting the cake, Juuzou came home and ate nearly all of it, barely pausing to appreciate the fondant design of quinque knives around the rim. She wondered when diabetes would take over.

"And here I thought you were useless!" he remarked after his last bite. "You have a real gift Rena-chan. You should go to bakery school or something."

Rena began to laugh but then stopped. She had never really considered this before. Her mom always wanted her to do it, since it was something they both enjoyed, and so subconciously Rena always rejected bakery school as a viable option. But when Juuzou said it, it made sense.

"You said your mom taught you to bake right? She can't be that bad then."

Rena rolled her eyes. Anybody that could bake probably didn't seem "that bad" in Juuzou's eyes.

She shifted uncomfortably.

"Look, I won't tell you to go back home to your parents," said Juuzou, licking his spoon. "But you can't live in my apartment forever."

The sun was setting outside the small window overlooking the city.

"One more night please. I know I have to go back. I just don't think I can face my mom right now."

"Ok," he said sighing. "But if she sends cops looking for you, I'm handing you over right away."

Rena smiled as he stood up and walked into his bedroom. His blunt truthfulness was endearing.

After spending a few minutes cleaning up the mess Juuzou made, she put the remains of the cake into the fridge, and finally built up the courage to continue where she left off that morning.

"You remember when I kissed you yesterday at the Auction Hall?" she asked, standing in his doorway.

Juuzou gave her a blank stare that was difficult to read.

"Well I wasn't just messing around," she said to him. Slowly, hands trembling slightly, Rena reached and pulled her shirt over her head, tossing it to the floor. "I really meant it."

After staring at her topless in his bedroom for a few moments, Juuzou suddenly seemed very interested in picking at his stitching.

"Why are you undressing here Rena?" he asked.

This earned a giggle from her end. "Why else would I do this?"

Slowly, Rena slipped the mini skirt off her hips and it slid gracefully onto the floor. Seeing as Juuzou was still fascinated in his stitches and refusing to look at her, she walked forward towards him on the bed, and placed a hand on his shoulder.

At that moment, she thought it was over. Juuzou would yell at her and force her out of his bedroom - no, out of his apartment - and she'd have to sleep outside tonight. It was all written in his eyes the moment she touched him.

She paused, suddenly afraid.

But then the moment passed, and his eyes no longer seemed angry. In fact, they seemed almost sad. Almost.

Not, sensing any more resistance, she crawled onto his bed next to him. She was playing with fire, but she kind of liked the feeling.

She leaned forward and began to kiss him. His lips were stiff and chapped, but no resistance begged her to go on.

They were making out on his bed, her fingers running through his jet black hair. She reached down and began tugging on his shirt, trying to lift it, but then Juuzou's body came back to life, and he grabbed her by the wrists, forcing her to stop. He looked at her hesitantly, there was no more sadness in his eyes, only uncertainty.

"Listen, I don't know if…" Rena cut his next words off with another kiss.

"Stop!" he yelled, turning over to pin her down onto the bed. "Why do you even want to do this with me anyway? I'm five years older than you, and you're still in high school. Aren't there any guys your age you could be doing this with? You don't even know me."

"I know enough about you," she said. Seeing his pin move was done only half-heartedly, she moved out easily from under him and sat up to undo her bra strap. "Like the fact that you're great at killing those nasty ghoul things, and kind enough to save me from them."

Juuzou sat up as well now, grabbing her wrists from behind her back, physically forcing her to stop. Hard. "Maybe you like the fact that I saved you countless times, more than you might actually like _me_. I don't want to do this with you anymore, we've gone far enough."

Rena felt a little angry now. She had never met even the shyest of virgins who turned her down so blatantly. But that's just like Juuzou, isn't it?

"Fine," she said, attempting to jerk both her hands away from his grasp. Seeing she was done, he let go. "I know I might not be the most appealing right now, with all my scabs and bruises…" She crawled off the bed and reached down to pull her skirt back on, indignantly. The embarrassment at being told off by an adult, after she was just throwing herself at him seconds before, was beginning to reach her cheeks.

"Don't be an idiot, you're beautiful," Juuzou said, in such a calm and easygoing tone that it was almost comical when compared to the embarrassment she felt. "That's not a reason for anything. I just… had a rough time last night at the raid too, ok? I'm still thinking about it. I need more time to sleep it off. And more cake."

He didn't know how to explain everything he was feeling in a way that Rena would understand.

From being raped and tortured by his Mama for the years of his memorable childhood, to exterminating him over the course of a few hour CCG operation yesterday night, to hearing that Mama never loved him, to being the sole reason Juuzou was unable to properly make love to Rena right now. 'Rei's mama' would never truly be gone from his life. For better or worse.

Luckily enough, Rena nodded and seemed to accept his excuse, and was even blushing again, but this time from his kind words.

 _You're beautiful_ … Rena heard lots of things from guys. From 'sexy' to 'hot' to a few unmentionable other words. But she couldn't remember the last time a guy called her beautiful. Maybe that was due to all the "losers she hung out with."

"It's ok," she said quietly, putting her shirt back on over her bruised shoulders. Killing ghouls all day had to be killer for your mood, right? "I'll make more cake then."

Before exiting his room she turned around and said, "… I know I haven't properly said this yet but… Thank you. For saving me."

Juuzou smiled.

As annoying as Rena was, she was starting to grow on him.

Rena was only gone for a few moments however, before she reappeared in his doorway.

"Sorry, umm, is it ok if I sleep in here tonight?"

The investigator frowned, but she quickly added a disclaimer.

"We don't have to _do_ anything like that!. I'd just… prefer not to be alone tonight. I had these terrible nightmares about the auction raid. And your living room is kind of creepy."

Maybe Juuzou didn't want to be alone that night either.

Maybe he wasn't ready yet to open himself up to another person. He had now lost both of his fathers - Shinohara and now his Mama - and now he felt more alone than ever. No, he was not ready to open up to another person. But maybe he was willing to try.

"Sure," he conceded. "I'll drag the couch in here. And then in the morning, you can make me cake again."


End file.
